The Best in Tent Camping: New England: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate Rvs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos

I've stayed at or "checked out" 3 of the campgrounds mentioned in this book, and so I'm sure that as I camp at some of the others I'll be pleased, as the author seems very fair in the descriptions that I've personally witnessed! Car camping is rarely going to be a totally private or secluded experience, but there are wonderful campgrounds with certain sites that come close to meeting those criteria, and this book helps you figure out how to increase your chances of ending up at a site that will please! Thanks for this book -- I appreciate it! If you're looking for a sequel, I'd love for you to cover a broad range of campgrounds and list the sites at each that come close to matching the "secluded" experience. For example, last year I stayed for three nights at Glen Ellis campground with my two kids, my friend, and her three kids. . . It's not a "secluded" campground, but we just wanted to take the kids to Storyland, and it was close. . . Actually, though, we found some sites that were very, very nice, even in what was otherwise a large, somewhat crowded campground. . . and honestly, the kids had a blast with all of the play equipment, pool, etc. Generally, I avoid any campground with a pool because it just doesn't seem "right", but now I know which sites to reserve if I ever end up at that one again!

I bought this book last year, a few short weeks before our annual camping trip - this time to New England - because the free AAA campground "guides" we used the year prior were awful and featured mostly sites catering to RVs. I must say, we found the reviews in the book very helpful, and it did lead us to some wonderful spots in campgrounds we might not have otherwised discovered. However, having only learned about these great destinations a month before our trip prevented us from securing some of the most beautiful spots. My recommendation, therefore, is to plan ahead, far, far in advance, if you want to experience the best sites New England has to offer. Otherwise, you will arrive only to find out the spot you want has been booked.

Greetings Dev33 and Natureboy, I'm sorry you had a less than positive experience with the reviews and ratings in my book. I do realize that slapping a numeric rating on something as subjective as impressions of privacy or beauty can be problematic. I did try to be as honest as possible about my impressions. Perhaps the campgrounds were less crowded when I was there doing my reserach. Natureboy, regarding some of your comments about Beartown and Greylock, I was never bothered by traffic at night on the Greylock access road. Perhaps there was something going on that night you were there, but that was never a factor when I was there or I certainly would have mentioned it. Also, I did mention that the pondside sites at Beartown are open to each other, but the view of the pond and surrounding hillsides made up for it, at least in my view. I doubt the air traffic that bothered you was from Otis AFB, however, since that is over near Cape Cod. Again, I am sorry your experiences with those campgrounds were not as positive as mine. I wish you better luck and more pleasant camping experiences in the future. If you would like to respond to me directly, my e-mail address is [email protected]. I would like to hear from you and hear your concerns directly. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy some of the other spots mentioned in the book. If you're ever in Maine, try the Mount Desert Campground. I'm certain you'll like that place. Cheers, Lafe Low

Lafe Low has put together a concise, thorough and extremely helpful guide to finding quiet tent campgrounds in New England. He even goes to the point of describing individual sites so you know which ones to reserve. He provides details on privacy, facilities and overall beauty as well as which water sports can be practiced in the area. It is a necessary resource for anyone trying to find spots where they won't be overrun by so-called RV "campers". My only suggestion would be more details/broader maps since many of the parks are in out of the way spots that don't get adequate attention on larger maps.

This is without a doubt the best book on tent camping in New England that we've found (and we've done a lot of looking). We moved to Massachusetts from California, and after we arrived here and started looking for places to camp that would give us the same kind of wilderness-oriented car camping that we loved to do in the West, we started feeling very disappointed -- every guidebook we read seemed oriented toward RVers and people who are looking for a lot of "amenities" (shuffleboard courts, swimming pools, paved paths, etc.) when they go camping. Then this summer we discovered Lafe Low's book, and our camping outlook brightened considerably -- this is a wonderful resource for people who enjoy the same kind of tent camping that we do.One particularly nice feature of this book is that it doesn't just describe each campground in general terms, it also describes in detail the specific campsites at each campground, and gives recommendations for which sites will give tent campers the most privacy, quiet, scenery, etc. This is such helpful information to have when planning a trip -- we used it when going to Harold Park State Forest here in Massachusetts this summer, and we got a beautiful campsite that really suited us.If you tent camp in New England, buy this book -- it's excellent!